Strawberry Shortcake has never thrilled me very much. Probably because the only time I’ve ever had it was when my mom felt ambitious and brought home those foam sponge cake circles you find in the produce section of your grocery store. I’d rather just have the strawberry and cream, thanks.

But Bear decided to try his hand at it after we bought yet another flat of strawberries at the farmer’s market and we had to do something with them quickly. After consulting a few recipes he made a sweet biscuit version that’s so great I was eating them naked the next day for breakfast. It was unreal. UNREAL.

Strawberry Shortcake

2 1/4 C bread flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 T baking powder

1/4 C butter

zest of 1 orange

1 2/3 C heavy cream

2 eggs

pinch of salt

sugar

Sift together the dry ingredients. Use a pastry blender to cut the butter into the dry ingredients until the butter is pea-sized.

Combine the zest and the cream and stir into the dry ingredients.

Roll out to measure just over an inch thick and cut. You could use a traditional round biscuit cutter, but we used every scrap of dough by rolling it out into a rectangle and then cutting it into triangles.

Combine the eggs and salt to make an egg wash, and spread over the shortcake triangles. Sprinkle the tops thoroughly with sugar.

Bake the biscuits on a lined cookie sheet at 400 degrees for 15 minutes or until golden brown and firm.

Bear served this with fresh whipped cream and strawberries, and his famous strawberry sauce. It was the perfect combination of savory and sweet and a wonderful, summery, tradition.

Every time I go to Salt Lake, I manage to con somebody I love into eating at my favorite lunch spot, Gourmandise. Their pastries are legendary, their salad’s exquisite, and every single time I have to ask the waitress to come back a couple of times while I agonize over which of their sandwiches I’m going to choose.

I finally decided to try making a version of one of my favorites, their Curry Chicken Salad served on a croissant. It’s incredibly easy, but the curry makes it unique and special and something I can not stop eating.

Curry Chicken Salad
3 chicken breasts
herbs and bouillon
1 C celery, diced
1 C purple grapes, washed and cut in half
1 C mayo
2 tsp curry powder

4 croissants

Poach the chicken breasts by cooking in water flavored with whatever herbs you like or have handy, and some chicken broth or bouillon cubes. You don’t want this to boil. Cook it at a nice low temperature.

Shred or dice the chicken, and combine all the other ingredients. Stir thoroughly.

This is best served on the next day, but it’s great right away too. Mound it up on a lovely croissant, or any other kind of your favorite bread.

Now on my rare trips to Salt Lake City, I can save that precious choice for one of their sandwiches that’s so complicated I don’t want to make it at home. Like their Grownup Grilled Cheese sandwich with cream cheese and brie and sun dried tomatoes and grilled onions. Oh my gosh I need to go eat lunch.

The latest in my neverending quest for pizzas to keep me interested in the food Bear wants to eat every night of the week…Chimichurri pizza!

I first got hooked on Chimichurri sauce when I had my great big herb garden and more cilantro and parsley than I could ever use. Then I went to an Aztec restaurant in Orange County and had a dinner that I still crave – breaded pan fried skirt steak with rice and chimichurri sauce. This stuff is amazing, spicy and pungent and fresh. I’ve eaten everything from beef to veggies with it, and in looking for something else to spread it on, I’ve come up with this pizza treatment.

Start by making your favorite pizza dough and rolling it out. Then make your sauce.

Chimichurri Sauce

1/2 cup flat leaf parsley
1/2 cup cilantro
6 cloves garlic
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Combine all the ingredients up to the oil in a blender and puree. Add the oil in a steady stream to allow it to combine. Taste for seasoning and balance, and add the red pepper flakes at the very end.

You can add any of your favorite herbs to this sauce. I especially love a bit of fresh oregano or marjoram in here.

Spread your sauce on the dough in place of tomato sauce. I took a couple of steaks and browned them on the grill for a nice char flavor, but don’t let them cook too long or they’ll overcook in the oven. Just a kiss for grillmarks is enough. Cut into chunks and spread them around the pizza.

Here we used mozzarella cheese and it was great, but I think next time I’m going to try pepperjack. The crust can hold up to a lot of heat, I think that would be a fun variation.

Bear has been on a baking roll, spreading his wings a little to make changes to recipes to make things just the way he likes them. That’s harder to do in baking than it is in cooking, which is part of the reason why I leave all the baking up to Bear. He really dislikes raisins in his cookies, so he set to making an oatmeal cookie that he’d like the most.

Crispy Cinnamon Oatmeal Cookies

3 C old fashioned rolled oats
1 1/2 C flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 Tbs cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 C unsalted butter, room temp
1 C sugar
1 C packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Heat the oven to 350. Add the dry ingredients except the sugars together in a bowl and set aside. Use a mixer to combine butter and sugar together. Mix in eggs and vanilla. Then add the dry ingredient mixture just until it’s combined together so you don’t turn the oats into mush.

Drop spoonfuls of dough onto a cookie sheet about 2″ apart. These will spread out quite a bit, so be sure to leave enough room. We always line our cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Bake until golden and just starting to crisp up. About 15 minutes.

I’m not a big cookie eater, but these are the best kind of cookies in my world. Since more of the flavor comes from cinnamon than from added fruit or chocolate, it’s not too sweet and the kind of cookie that you can eat four of before realizing what you’ve done. Which might also make it the worst kind of cookie.

We had the teenagers from church over again the other night, so Bear whipped up his famous treats for the occasion. He makes these whenever a bake sale comes around, and they go almost before he can even put them out on the table. He let me share the recipe with you, so get ready to be the hit of your next fundraiser.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Treats

4 T butter
45 large marshmallows
1/2 C peanut butter
6 C rice krispie cereal
5 oz milk chocolate
3 T butter

Melt the 4 T butter, then add the marshmallows and melt together. Add the peanut butter and stir until fully incorporated. Add the rice cereal a few cups at a time to really get the cereal covered. Spread into a greased baking pan.

Melt the chocolate and butter together in a double boiler so the chocolate doesn’t scorch. The butter will make the chocolate softer so it’s easier to spread. When melted and stirred together, spread like frosting on top of the rice krispie treats.

Rice krispie treats seem to be one of those things that nobody ever grows out of. No matter how sophisticated your palate becomes, you’ll always come back home for rice krispie treats. This version takes that yummy nostalgic treat, and makes it decadent.

Last year in my big canning kick, I canned up a bunch of the Apple Onion slaw that I used to make this sandwich. I didn’t give canning instructions in that post, but it’s super simple. Just fill warm jars leaving around 1/4″ of headspace, adding water as necessary to remove any air bubbles, and process for 20 minutes. You might be able to process for less, but the heat doesn’t hurt it and I’m a little obsessed with safety.

Since I do all my meal planning using the Food Nanny method, that makes Friday night Pizza Night. We’ve changed up our meal planning now that we’re a couple of years in, and currently we’re doing….
Monday Night: Comfort Food
Tuesday Night: Fish and Meatless
Wednesday Night: Leftovers
Thursday Night: Try Something New
Friday Night: Ethnic Food
Saturday Night: Pizza or Grilling
Sunday Night: Company Food

I just couldn’t eat Pizza and Burgers every week, so we changed things up. But as Atti gets older, that might get changed back. This is what’s working for us now.

Anyway, all that to explain that since I was in a pizza eating rut, I’m forcing myself to get seriously creative, and I had all that yummy apple onion slaw in the pantry, so I decided to turn my sandwich into a pizza. That was a great idea.

On top of your favorite pizza dough, brush some olive oil and spread out some of the apple onion slaw. Scatter chunks of chevre goat cheese, cooked chicken pieces, and top with mozzarella cheese. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes or until your pizza dough is done. Then finish with a little drizzle of balsamic vinegar. This is a pizza I could eat every week.

I told you guys a few weeks ago about a wonderful day in the city and a wonderful wonderful meal we had at a French restaurant there. A meal so wonderful that I nearly ripped the plate out of Bear’s hands to eat it instead of what I ordered.

That meal has been haunting me ever since, so I did my best to recreate it. I’m pretty happy with the results.

Pork Chops and Brussels Sprouts in an Apple Cider Mustard Sauce

4 pork chops
1/2 lb brussels sprouts
olive oil
1/2 C apple cider
1/4 C whole grain dijon mustard
1/2 C cream
1/2 C chicken broth
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp white wine or apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp cornstarch

Clean and halve the brussels sprouts, then toss them with a generous bit of olive oil and a little salt. Spread them on a cookie sheet and roast in the oven until tender and just a bit crunchy on the edges. Being generous with the oil and giving it a long roast will take away some of the bitterness of the sprouts.

Start the pork chops by giving them a quick grill on each side, just enough to give a little char, or browning in a pan. Don’t let it cook too much, just enough to make a nice brown crust.

Mix the sauce ingredients together. Each mustard will taste a little different, mine was a pretty mild one, so taste as you go and adjust as necessary.

Remove the brussels sprouts from their cookie sheet and place in a baking dish. Put the browned pork chops on top, then pour the sauce all over everything. Cook at 350 for 20 – 30 minutes, or until your pork chops reach the right internal temperature.

I served this with some heavily garlicked mashed potatoes and poured that sauce all over everything. If you want your sauce a little tighter, add a little more cornstarch at the beginning. This recipe makes a TON of sauce, because I wanted plenty to dunk my bread into, but that means that you have a lot of room to play with the texture.